I have never heard of this...please explain
2007-01-01 17:02:49 · 9 answers · asked by 4 Shades of Blue 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
thanks for all the answers. I think I've seen a bumper sticker with this whole idea...."if you don't believe in God, you'd BETTER be right!" I always hated that bumper sticker. I'm a Christian by the way. I don't believe because it's a safe bet...I believe because it makes sense to me. I wonder how many there are out there who have is whole "better safe than sorry" attitude? It is so against true faith.
2007-01-02 00:52:26 · update #1
.It is nothing fancy. You do it everyday of your life.
When you make a decision:
Like should I go the dance with Herbert?
1. What if I don't go. What will I miss.
2. What if I go? What is the worst thing that would happen?
Pascal applied that to believing in God.
1. What if I don't believe in God? What will I miss. Will I miss getting into Heaven?
2. What if I believe in God? What is the worst thing that could happen? If there is no God, then there is no Heaven. So, even if I believe in a God that does not exist, I am no worse off than If I had no choice to start with.
Pascal's Wager is "he is going to wager (bet) that there is a God, if he is right, he wins. If he is wrong he doesn't lose what he didn't have to start with.
(Unless Herbert is a threat to your life, go to the dance with him. What have you got to lose?)
2007-01-01 17:06:02 · answer #1 · answered by MrsOcultyThomas 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pascal's wager basically says that if a believer is wrong, and there is no Heaven, he's lost nothing; but if a non-believer is wrong, and there is a Hell, he's lost everything, so it's better to believe than to not believe.
This doesn't address the question of WHICH religion is the right one. For instance, what if the Xians are wrong and Islam is the only way to get to Heaven? What if the Muslims are wrong and Buddhism is the way? There is no evidence whatsoever in favor of any religion over any other, and until there is such evidence, we freethinkers, skeptics, and atheists will continue to assert that there is no God.
2007-01-02 01:10:02 · answer #2 · answered by MacAulay 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Here's an website from some people who are against Pascal's Wager (note that the parts in bold type at the top of the page basically paraphrase the wager) :
http://fayfreethinkers.com/tracts/pascalswager.shtml
2007-01-02 01:05:32 · answer #3 · answered by solarius 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Staying on the safe side.
For example, you have an atheist and a theist. The atheist says theres no God, heaven, or hell. The theist says there is. The atheist says you're wrong. The theist says "If I'm wrong, I don't lose anything. If you're wrong, you'll burn in hell"
So the theist is doing something in the hope that it will pay off, and if hes wrong, doesn't matter.
2007-01-02 01:12:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
n. An argument according to which belief in God is rational whether or not God exists, since falsely believing that God exists leads to no harm whereas falsely believing that God does not exist may lead to eternal damnation.
2007-01-02 01:06:13 · answer #5 · answered by 7.22.06 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To put it crudely, we should wager that God exists because it is the best bet.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/
Its a University Article, but I have summarized it.
2007-01-02 01:07:38 · answer #6 · answered by onewhosubmits 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If God doesn't exist, then it doesn't matter if you believe or not.
But if he does exist, you would be better off believing than not.
2007-01-02 01:06:00 · answer #7 · answered by zxcv 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"Why not worship God? You CAN go to heaven if you do. If you don't, you CAN go to hell...do you really want to take that risk?"
That's pretty much it.
2007-01-02 01:06:34 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have the internet. Use it. Look it up.
2007-01-02 01:06:12 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋